Everything You Need to Know About Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza
Unified heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk takes on Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on Saturday night.
Despite criticism from some, Usyk’s WBC title will be on the line against the former Glory world heavyweight champion.
If Verhoeven were to beat Usyk on Saturday, it would undoubtedly be the biggest upset in combat sports history.
The Dutchman will be looking to spoil Usyk’s perfect record of 24-0 and end the night as a world champion in boxing.
What time is Usyk v Verhoeven?
The undercard will open with a fight between Mahmoud Mobark v Michael Kalyalya, which is scheduled to get underway at 19:00 BST.
Usyk and Verhoeven are set to make their way to the ring at approximately 22:30, with the first bell to be rung at 23:00.
Who’s on the undercard and what is the running order?
Oleksandr Usyk (c) v Rico Verhoeven – WBC heavyweight title
Hamzah Sheeraz v Alem Begic – WBO super-middleweight title
Jack Catterall v Shakhram Giyasov – welterweight
Frank Sanchez v Richard Torrez Jr – heavyweight
Mizuki Hiruta (c) v Mai Soliman – WBO super-flyweight title
Basem Mamdouh v Jamar Talley – cruiserweight
Mahmoud Mobark v Michael Kalyalya – middleweight
How do the careers of Usyk and Verhoeven compare?
Despite having a record of 1-0 in professional boxing after beating a 0-5 Hungarian boxer named Janos Finfera, Rico Verhoeven was the longest-reigning Glory heavyweight champion in the promotion’s history.
Glory is kickboxing’s biggest promotion and has produced some of combat sports’ biggest stars.
He was undefeated as Glory heavyweight champion for 11 years, with 13 successful defences, but is far from a prolific knockout artist in kickboxing.
Verhoeven has picked up 28 wins under the Glory banner, with 10 of those coming via knockout, while five of his past six bouts went the distance.
Usyk is the WBA (Super), IBF and WBC heavyweight world champion, but not all the belts will be on the line against Verhoeven.
Verhoeven can only win the WBC belt, while the WBA and IBF titles will become vacant if Usyk loses.
This is because Verhoeven is not ranked with any sanctioning body, and it was highly unusual for the WBC to allow the Dutchman to fight for their belt.
Their fellow sanctioning bodies did not go quite as far, but will not take any action against Usyk for tackling the Verhoeven fight.
Usyk began campaigning as a professional boxer a year after winning gold at the 2012 Olympics in London.
In just his 10th fight, Usyk beat Krzysztof Glowacki to win the WBO cruiserweight title and embarked on the road to become undisputed.
He achieved that feat in 2018 with a points win over Murat Gassiev and made one successful defence against Tony Bellew before moving up to heavyweight.
Victories over Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora earned Usyk a shot at unified champion Anthony Joshua, and he delivered again to win the WBA (Super), IBF and WBO belts.
Following successful defences in a rematch with Joshua and then against Daniel Dubois, Usyk made history by becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era when he outpointed Tyson Fury.
Usyk beat Fury twice in 2024 and further cemented his place as one of the pound-for-pound greats when stopping Dubois in 2025 to become a two-time undisputed champion.
He has yet to taste defeat in 24 fights as a professional and has won 15 of those contests inside the distance.
